EC from DC
For more than five years, I have written a weekly commentary treatise promoting the need for an elevation in congressional civility and a denunciation of the notion that compromise means capitulations. Four hundred and thirty-four Members of the House of Representatives receive the weekly congressional communiqué. Hundreds, over the years, from both sides of the aisle, have expressed enlightenment in the ruminations.
As we rapidly approach the holidays, I want to bring something to your attention. On Wednesday, I sent a letter to Secretary of Labor Tom Perez and Acting Commissioner of Food and Drugs Dr. Stephen Ostroff, calling on them to investigate slave-peeled shrimp in Thailand, which is entering the United States’ food supply.
On Wednesday of this week, I, along with 171 of my colleagues, signed a discharge petition to force a vote on commonsense, life-saving legislation to keep guns and explosives out of the hands of terrorists. Last week, House Republicans voted three times to block the House from debating H.R. 1076, the Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act. We need to bring this critical legislation immediately up for a vote. The bill would close the dangerous loophole that allows suspected terrorists on the FBI’s Terrorist Watchlist to legally buy deadly weapons.
Today, I want to bring your attention and awareness to criminal “government grant scams” that prey on vulnerable Americans. This time of year we must remain hyper-vigilant.
Government grant scams have been around for years and will continue to exist. This is partly because many people lack experience with grant systems and procedures. In a common government grant scam, a caller will typically do three things:
This week, I would like to simply send to you a Thanksgiving Day message. It is critical in today’s technology focused and fast paced society to stop for a moment to take a deep breath, to think, and to give genuine thanks for our family, our friends and those we love. We are living in a time where fighting and disagreement seem to be at an all-time high, both in our nation’s capital and around the world, from Paris to Syria to Beirut and Mali. It is a time of great uncertainty. Good and hard-working families stay awake at night wondering what the next day will bring.
On Wednesday we commemorated Veterans Day, a day on which to honor those among us who have heard the call of their nation and served diligently. They made a commitment to serve, and in return, we have made a commitment to veterans that must be honored. We owe our veterans a tremendous amount of gratitude. Young men and women who grew up in Kansas City and across our nation have sacrificed dearly for their country. I believe that by providing convenient and timely access to medical and other fundamental services, we can honor this commitment.
This week in DC we finally reauthorized the Export-Import Bank, the government agency that provides loans and insurance in support of the export of American goods and services. On Tuesday, I voted, along with 312 other Democratic and Republican colleagues in the House, to pass H.R. 597, a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the job-creating Export-Import Bank.
On Monday I sent a letter to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Chuck Rosenberg regarding the danger of a new drug by the name of Alpha-PVP, also known as Flakka. It is a threatening drug that has taken lives and endangers countless more.
